After making no public statements about the tragedy earlier Monday, Reyes appeared at a late afternoon news conference and said the owner of 713 W. Wrightwood Ave., Philip J. Pappas, applied for permits for heating, cooling and plumbing improvements in 1998 but then renovated the entire building without permission.

FOR THE RECORD - This story contains corrected material, published July 12, 2003.

The owner went beyond the scope of the permit and illegally converted the building from five units to three, as well as built a new back porch, she said.

"What I'm saying is that the porch that's on the plans is not the porch that collapsed," she said. "That porch on the plans is different dimensions and specifically says `existing porch,' and when they submitted the plans they didn't submit a request or an application for any change to that porch ... so in fact that porch was done without permits."

The porch collapsed about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, while as many as 60 people were crowded on its second- and third-floor levels, and more people were on the stairs as they left a large party at the apartments.

Pappas and his management companies, L.G. Properties and P&A Properties, control as many as 40 buildings on the North Side. The Wrightwood building is operated by L.G. Properties.

Pappas was on a canoe trip in Canada and had not yet been notified of the tragedy by Monday evening, officials said. A business associate of Pappas, who fielded questions for L.G. Properties on condition that he remain anonymous, said company officials still believe the porch had a proper permit, although they could not produce any documentation.

It would not be the first time Pappas has built a porch without a permit. The city cited Pappas in Housing Court in 2002 for building a similar back porch without a permit at his building at 1415 W. Belle Plaine Ave.

Permit being processed

City Law Department officials said it appeared the permit application was being processed at the time of the citation because the case was dismissed at the first court date. The fact that the case was dismissed so quickly also indicated the porch had been built to code, despite the lack of a permit, Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said.

Pappas also was sued by the city on two other occasions for problems with back porches. Two years ago at his 7-flat building at 2704 N. Mildred Ave., the city found he had failed "to rebuild or replace dilapidated and dangerous porch" and he had allowed tenants to illegally keep barbecue grills on the porch decks. Court records show the case was closed three weeks later.

In another 2001 case, Pappas was cited for having a dilapidated and dangerous porch at his building at 3602 N. Hermitage Ave. Court records show the porch was repaired in about a month.

The company settled a 2000 lawsuit by a tenant who injured his leg when a stair on the back porch of Pappas' building at 1336 W. Waveland Ave. gave way.

An engineer for plaintiff Patrick Kramer inspected the stairwell and testified it was defectively designed, constructed and assembled and "is in an unreasonably dangerous condition," according to court documents. Kramer, who had two surgeries, said he received a $150,000 settlement.

L.G. Properties manager Jack Emery turned over the name of the contractor who built the Wrightwood porch to city officials Monday morning, the business associate said. Reyes said city officials were trying to contact the contractor, George Koutroumbis.

Koutroumbis, 74, is being treated for cancer at a North Side hospital. Reached by telephone Monday evening, he said he "probably did" build the porch, but he did not feel well enough to discuss it.

Koutroumbis' sister, with whom he lives on the North Side, said her brother's work was not to blame because the porch was overloaded.

"I feel very sorry for all those young people losing their lives. But ... I don't understand why they allowed that to happen," said Theodora Alek, 70. "No matter who built the porch, it probably would have come down."

Responsibility disputed

Pappas' business associate said company officials believed the contractor was responsible for securing the permit for the porch. However, he said L.G. Properties acted as the general contractor for the 1998 renovation, and city officials said the company took out the permits for all of the other work.

Mayor Richard Daley, who is in Ireland, issued a statement including condolences for the families of the victims.

"The Buildings Department will thoroughly investigate the incident to determine whether any city ordinances were violated," the statement read.